STONY BROOK, N.Y. -- The four Division I
women's semifinalists -- Florida, Northwestern, Maryland and
Syracuse -- took the field at LaValle Stadium on Thursday for
practice and media day. Assorted notes and nuggets from the
day:

Travel Was Smooth

Travel to Stony Brook was uneventful for all four teams.
Syracuse and Maryland rode coach buses, Northwestern took a
commercial flight, and Florida chartered a plane to get to New
York, which is by far the Gators' longest road trip of the
year.

"I thought that was really cool. We didn't have to go through
security or anything. It was a lot of fun, just our team on the
plane," said Florida midfielder Brittany Dashiell.

Television a Hot Topic: What's the Future Look Like?

Last year, the entire championship weekend was slated to be
available only via streaming on NCAA.com, to the consternation of
the women's lacrosse community. At the 11th hour, the Big Ten
Network stepped in and agreed to broadcast all three games and
struck a deal with Comcast to allow for a television broadcast in
media markets of all four of the semifinal teams. (BTN regularly
broadcasts Northwestern's games, although the Wildcats compete in
the American Lacrosse Conference.) Friday's semifinals (5:30 and 8
p.m.) will be available live online via ESPN3 and will re-air on
ESPNU via tape delay on Monday. The championship game will be aired
live on ESPNU at 8 p.m. Sunday.

Northwestern head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller, a tireless promoter
of lacrosse in the media, was pleased that the championship would
be televised lived, and hoped that it would lead to a broadcast of
the full championship weekend in future seasons.

"I think it's a step in the right direction. Obviously we'd love
to have both games on ESPNU, but hopefully with ESPNU covering the
championship game, seeing what this sport has to offer, seeing what
type of ratings they get, what type of exposure they get, hopefully
we'll move into the next realm," said Amonte Hiller. "You've got to
start somewhere and this is where we're at, and we'll build on
this."

When asked if she thought it would behoove the Division I
women's tournament to move to another weekend, so it wouldn't have
to compete against the men's tournament for air time, Hiller said
she liked it best when the men's and women's tournaments were the
same weekend in the same area (as they were in 2010), which allowed
for some cross-pollination between the two events.

"I think that would be ideal if we could work it out," said
Amonte Hiller. "But if we're going to be competing for our TV time,
and that's going to hurt us, that's something that we might have to
consider."

Zen Masters: Maryland Visualizes Success

Each squad had a 90 minute practice session; only Syracuse used
the full time. Northwestern left the field after a little over an
hour. Maryland arguably had the most relaxing practice, beginning
with a visualization guided by head coach Cathy Reese. The Terps
don't typically do visualization exercises, although they were a
staple when Reese herself was a player in the late 1990s. The
entire team lay on their backs on the turf of LaValle Stadium as
Reese asked them to picture themselves "seeing us moving off ball,
seeing us finding the open spaces...see us packing it in
defensively, see us working together, having fun together,
dominating together."

Draw Matchups Critical

The draw was a focus for both Syracuse and Florida. The Gators
won the draw, 15-12, when the two teams played in March, although
the Orange won 12-11 in overtime. Syracuse's top draw specialist,
Kailah Kempney (83 DCs) missed four games (including Florida) with
a midseason knee injury, so it will be a new match-up between her
and Gator freshman Shannon Gilroy (77). Gilroy is four inches
taller, so Kempney will count on her teammates to pick up the balls
she puts on the turf.

"That's when you give it to the outside people," said Kempney.
"She's bigger than me and she's really strong so the selfs are
going to be very difficult. So we're going to have to depend on the
outside of the circle, but I believe in my teammates."

The Northwestern-Maryland will also feature a first-time
match-up between two top draw specialists, Alyssa Leonard (80 DCs)
and Karri Ellen Johnson (76). Leonard played in last year's final,
but Johnson missed it after a season-ending concussion.

Recruiting Pluses on Long Island

Playing in a national semifinal in a hotbed area like Long
Island is huge recruiting boost for all four schools, but
particularly those from non-traditional lacrosse areas like
Northwestern and Florida. O'Leary praised the quality of high
school and club coaching on Long Island, and Amonte Hiller said
that having a presence in a hotbed area can pay dividends,
especially if you're patient.

"If you're a young kid, 9 or 10 years old, you come to these
games and you see these teams and you want to be that. And that
translates as you get older," she said. "Sometimes you don't see
the product of what you're doing on the field 'til years
later."

A Lot of Hardware

Collectively, the four head coaches have 28 NCAA championship
rings between them. Syracuse head coach Gary Gait has 10 titles,
three as a player for the Orange men's team (1988-1990) and 7 as an
assistant coach for the Maryland women's lacrosse team (1995-2001).
Northwestern's Kelly Amonte Hiller has 8 – two as a player
for the Terps (1995 and 1996) and six as the Wildcats' head coach
(2005-2009, 2011). Maryland's Cathy Reese won four titles as a
player with the Terps (1995-1998) and 3 more as an assistant coach
(1999-2001). She earned her eighth ring as a head coach when
Maryland won the 2010 NCAA championship. Florida's Mandee O'Leary
won a title as a player with Temple (1988) and as an assistant for
Maryland (1992).